OPEN MEETING:

CUL and Blackboard

Tony Cosgrave reported on the initial phase of a collaboration among several staff from CUL and CIT to incorporate a more prominent CUL presence into Blackboard pages (general pages and individual class pages).

Currently, the only presence is a CUL link (icon) on the opening page of Blackboard.

Ideas to integrate library resources and services into Blackboard class pages include:

• migrating course reserves from Voyager to Blackboard
  adding a link to the Gateway along the left menu panel of each individual class page
• adding a link to “Ask a Librarian” in the “Communication” section of each class page
• Including a section/chapter about the library and its services in the manual for instructors (how they can customize library resources into their class pages)
• Taking part in training sessions for instructors to highlight our instruction services and to demonstrate to them how they can customize their Blackboard pages to include library resources

Team members involved in these efforts are from CUL: Tony Cosgrave, Carmen Blankinship, Nancy Skipper, Jesse Koennecke, Marty Kurth, Matt Morrison and Peter Hirtle; Jim Lombardi Assistant Vice President/Director of Strategic Projects (Office of the Vice President for Information Technology); and from CIT: Al Gonzalez, Christopher McAuliffe, Joan Falkenberg Getman, and Mark Mara.

Further ideas or questions can be directed to Tony Cosgrave (ajc5).

Link from “Find it at Cornell” into an ILL form using the Open URL standard

Web Bridge, a potential replacement for Link Finder Plus to power “Find it at Cornell”

Jesse Koennecke reported on recent developments in Link Finder Plus (Find it at Cornell) and the prospect of migrating from Link Finder Plus to Web Bridge (ERM/III).

Recent developments in Link Finder Plus (LFP):

On current “Find it at Cornell” pages, a link will be added that reads “Request through ILL.”  Clicking on the link will take the user to ILLiad (logon will be required).  The result of clicking on the “Request through ILL” link from a Find it at Cornell page will be a completed online form for the particular item.  The system will know to complete a form for a journal article if it’s a journal article, for a book if it’s a book, for proceedings if the article is from conference proceedings, etc.  It will require users to look the form over before submitting to make sure the information transferred properly.  We hope to see this go live before the end of this month (November, 2005).

Migrating to Web Bridge:

A team of CUL staff are considering Web Bridge as an alternative to LFP.  Web Bridge is more flexible and customizable.  Links to full-text articles would be more reliable/successful than they currently are in Find it at Cornell.  We would still be able to have the “Request through ILL” link that would automatically fill in forms.  Currently the team is trying to replicate in Web Bridge what is on Find it at Cornell, but there is also a wish list in progress for other things.  If a decision is made to go with Web Bridge, the team hopes to have it functional and live by March, 2006.

Questions can be forwarded to Jesse Koennecke (jtk1), Maureen Morris (mm342), or Adam Chandler (alc28).

Reference Statistics Project Status Report

Mihoko Hosoi and Jean Callihan comprise the Reference Statistics Sub-committee under the PSEC Reference & Outreach Committee.  PSEC requested a report on gathering CUL annual reference statistics using a sampling method (see minutes of the PSEC Reference & Outreach Committee for 10/17/05). Mihoko and Jean presented a draft of their report to PSEC on this issue.

• PSEC posed the following: What are the pros and cons of sampling? How frequent and at what times should the sampling take place?  What information should we gather (considering ARL requirements)? What kind of information are units currently gathering?
• A survey about recording reference statistics was sent to all unit libraries.  15 out of 21 responded.  Currently, Geneva, Law, and Medical use sampling to gather their annual reference statistics.
• There are many differences among unit libraries in how reference statistics are gathered.  
• 1. Some collect directional and technical questions. 
  2. Some collect statistics on fee-based questions. 
  3. Some note the mode of transactions (phone, e-mail, chat, in-person) 
  4. Some note the patron status (undergraduate, graduate, faculty)
  5. Some note length of the transaction (15 minutes, 30 minutes)
  6. Some note the location of the transaction (at desk, in office)
     
• After consulting with a statistics professor at the Hotel School and with Nancy McGovern and Linda Miller in IRIS Research and Assessment Services, it was noted that sampling works when done properly.
• Mihoko presented a formula and statistical information that would help us determine how many samples (weeks of data gathering) would be required to get “reliable” data.  Her example for the Hotel Library was based on 90% confidence, mean number of questions per week 62, standard deviation 26.79, and error rate ±15.  For Hotel, about 12 weeks of sampling per year would be required to achieve 90% “reliability” in the extrapolated statistics for the year.  This would vary from unit to unit.
• The weeks to gather data would have to be determined randomly for this method to work.
• Mihoko and Jean are focusing on basic data needed for cross-campus analysis.  Their report is due to PSEC before Thanksgiving.
• At the time of the meeting, their recommendations were as follows:
  
• 1. Frequency of sampling across campus would depend on PSEC’s determination for confidence level and error rate requirement
  2. The sampling weeks would be chosen randomly
  3. The following information would be gathered:
     
     a. Number of reference transactions (ARL requirement)
     b. Mode (in-person, phone, chat, e-mail, etc.Length of 
         transaction (in increments of 5/10/15 minutes – not
         yet determined)
     c. Patron status, if possible (undergrad, grad, faculty,
         staff)

Audience members asked the sub-committee to consider several things in preparing their report/recommendations to PSEC:

• ensuring that this method is easier rather than more complex for staff who gather statistics
• use a uniform statistics sheet for all units during the sampling weeks
• first consider the decisions we need to make, then determine the kinds of information we need to gather
• get more information about what PSEC’s goals are for this project
• do we need a tool that will analyze reference questions that come in at circ desks (when ref desks are not open)?

CLOSED MEETING:

The committee set dates for meetings from January – June, 2006.

Next meeting:

December 12, 2005

Room 106 Olin

9:00am – 10:30am